East to West RV routes advice

Your input would be greatly appreciated. This will be the second RV trip that I am the driver. Renting a Coachmen Freelander 27QB Ford 350 (30 foot Class C motor home) this summer. It will be me, my son (13 years old), and my dog. I will be making the round trip in 7 weeks. I like driving no more than 5 hours a day. Using RV Travel Wizard but would like some human intervention. Here is the route out west from DC to Malibu which is currently taking 19 days with various stop-overs. I am stopping in Fort Worth/Grapevine Texas to see relatives. The first leg of the trip will take 19 days. I want to avoid drives with sheer cliff drop offs.

- I66W to I8I S  to Roanoke.
- I40 W to Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis
- I440 W to Texarkana
- I30 to Fortworth
- President Bush Parkway (toll), I-35E, TX 121, TX26 to Grapevine.
- TX 114W, I-44, I-40 to Amarillo
- I-40 W to Petrified Forest, Painted desert
- US491, NM 602, US 160 to Mesa Verdes CO
- US 160, US89, AZ 64 to Grand Canyon
- AZ64, I-40 to Needles CA
- I40W, US95, I 15, CA210, I605, CA 60, I10, CA1 - Malibu

Welcome to the forum. We have many full timers here and someone will chime in soon.

Welcome to the forum.

I'd start with noting that :
1. you can stay on I-81 all the way to where in merges with I-40, just east of Knoxville.
2. 440 goes around Knoxville, then back to I-40 to Little Rock.
3. change to I-30 at Little Rock.
4. I-30 takes you straight into Dallas. If Grapevine is you DFW destination, I suggest I-30 to Greenville, then 380 to McKinney, and the Sam Rayburn to Grapevine.
5. US 287 is a very good drive from Ft Worth to Amarillo.

Sounds like a great trip.

I have done most of this route, just not in one trip. Reserve early. Places to stay:
Roanoke: Dixie Cavern RV, Claytor Lake SP (prefered, loop D). or the KOA at 77/81 junction
Nashville: Seven points Campground,  or KOA east.
Texarkana: We went off main path to Hot Springs AR, stayed at Cloud Nine. Stayed in Texarkana: Shady Pines.
Amarillo: Oasis RV (take free limo to Big Texan Steak Ranch)
Grand Canyon: Mather Campground
Malibu: Expensive. Malibu Beach RV RV Park (mountain view E/W only during the week), Leo Carrillo SP (if open)

Haven't stayed in any of the others.

Another vote for Hwy 287 from Fort Worth to Amarillo, we took it along with I40 part of the way outbound to the Grand Canyon in October, with a detour through northern NM, 4 corners, and into UT.

Also did the Petrified Forest National Park, impressive views of petrified wood everywhere, unfortunately the road in the park was AWFUL, teeth jarring pavement, so bad I only drove about 1/3 of the length.

Here are some RV parks we have stayed at, mostly for overnight stops along this route,and would use again.  KOA Journey park in Texarkana (nice for a Journey level park, just off I30, almost park like wooded area with lots of pine trees), Big Texan RV ranch, real assembly line check in check out, very high turner over of 1 night stop overs (about a mile from the Big Texan steak house, free shuttle service, of course they have free shuttles to most other area rv parks), free dry camping at the gift shop just outside the south gate for Petrified forest NP, even had a picnic table, note no food or water of any kind available nearby, no food sold in gift shop, though they have some impressive rocks.  Finally Mather Campground (dry camping) at the Grand Canyon, note 31 ft max length limit and most sites are under 25 ft.  We are 29'5" bumper to bumper, stayed in site 44 on Aspen loop, which is officially a 27 ft site, and had no issues, long pull through site, but tight turn to enter, had to back and cut once, would not want to be much longer though.  There is also Trailer village which allows larger RV's at the grand canyon with full hookups.

Isaac1,Bobtop46,  Larsmac, Rene T

Thank you all. .  The route and campground advice is helpful and will make the changes.

I noticed you had Needles, CA on your route. Gas up before you leave AZ. Needles has the highest gas prices anywhere.

Lots and lots of interstate driving.  We enjoy using the old US numbered system once we get west of Oklahoma City. You may not make quite as good of time, but you will see much more of the country.

We also like the old US highways, Interstates are not fun. Slow down and see the country. If you die before you see it all, will anybody know or care?

wndopdlr said:

Lots and lots of interstate driving.  We enjoy using the old US numbered system once we get west of Oklahoma City. You may not make quite as good of time, but you will see much more of the country.

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I tend to say anywhere west of the Louisiana, be aware even most 2 lane small highways in Texas has a 70-75 mph speed limit.  So the only real difference in crossing Texas on the Interstate vs other highways are the slow downs you experience passing through town, which I think is half the fun.  Texas has some interesting looking small towns, lots of them with odd courthouse squares at the center of town where all the highways converge.

Isaac-1 said:

I tend to say anywhere west of the Louisiana, be aware even most 2 lane small highways in Texas has a 70-75 mph speed limit.  So the only real difference in crossing Texas on the Interstate vs other highways are the slow downs you experience passing through town, which I think is half the fun.  Texas has some interesting looking small towns, lots of them with odd courthouse squares at the center of town where all the highways converge.

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We like the "not Interstate" highways whenever we can find them.
Especially in Texas.
US-82 from Texarkana to Wichita falls is the best way across East Texas
US-380  is a good drive across West Texas, from Denton.
Both of them fade into central New Mexico

Lars MAC, BoB Top 46, ChasA. Alaskansnowbird, winopdr, Isaac-1, and Renee T

I agree the ?non Interstates? are far more beautiful and sometimes less stressful. I was going on what Trip Wizard was showing but will make changes to the east to west routes especially Texas. I live in DC and I think the interstates are worst than ours. No Offense.

wndopdlr said:

Lots and lots of interstate driving. We enjoy using the old US numbered system once we get west of Oklahoma City. You may not make quite as good of time, but you will see much more of the country.

Click to expand...

We just got back today from a round trip to Kansas City from Phoenix. We traveled US highways (not freeways) all the way to Albuquerque from Kansas City. It is remarkable in all that you see and experience. I would never take freeways if time and weather permit. We stayed at Angel Fire NM one night, which was a bit of white knuckle trip up the mountain and back down to Taos NM, but we loved the beauty and the experience.

Interstate 40 thru Arizona is in terrible shape and will shake your teeth out.

On a recent trip back from Williams to Kingman we took a detour that was recommended by a fellow at the campground in Williams. It was so much better, smoother, more relaxed and with hardly and traffic. It was also about the same distance at if we took I-40 and very scenic.

The route was using the original US 66 from Seligman to Kingman.

Here is a link for the details.

Go to Mesa Verde using US 285 and US 84 to US 160. You get off of I-40 at Clines Corners. Or avoid any freeway and take US 380 from Ft. Worth to Roswell to pick up 285. After Mesa Verde drop down to Painted/Petrified via 491 or 191 instead of going to Petrified first and backtracking to Mesa Verde.

380 goes through Denton just north of Grapevine.

Silly Dilly said:

Your input would be greatly appreciated. This will be the second RV trip that I am the driver. Renting a Coachmen Freelander 27QB Ford 350 (30 foot Class C motor home) this summer. It will be me, my son (13 years old), and my dog. I will be making the round trip in 7 weeks. I like driving no more than 5 hours a day. Using RV Travel Wizard but would like some human intervention. Here is the route out west from DC to Malibu which is currently taking 19 days with various stop-overs. I am stopping in Fort Worth/Grapevine Texas to see relatives. The first leg of the trip will take 19 days. I want to avoid drives with sheer cliff drop offs.

- I66W to I8I S to Roanoke.
- I40 W to Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis
- I440 W to Texarkana
- I30 to Fortworth
- President Bush Parkway (toll), I-35E, TX 121, TX26 to Grapevine.
- TX 114W, I-44, I-40 to Amarillo
- I-40 W to Petrified Forest, Painted desert
- US491, NM 602, US 160 to Mesa Verdes CO
- US 160, US89, AZ 64 to Grand Canyon
- AZ64, I-40 to Needles CA
- I40W, US95, I 15, CA210, I605, CA 60, I10, CA1 - Malibu

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I live in Cortez. Stay on 491 to 160 to Mesa Verde. Then the route you have to GC. But be careful on 160 headed west, there are some ugly bumps and surges.